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Monday, December 30, 2013

Hey good people! Hope your Christmas was merry and you are re-cooperating from all the good food and family gatherings. I am still digging my way out of toys. Looks like a daycare exploded in our house. Let's just say some new organization methods are needed. We've just been enjoying each other and relaxing until it's time for the kids to go back to school.With a few more days of 2013 left, I thought it was time to roundup my favorite projects of the year.

The biggest project of the year was the completion of my son's nursery.

With my constant need for change, we bought a new rug for the family room. I love how it opened up the space and gave the room a totally new look.

For more projects I did throughout the year, be sure to visit the DIY Projects tab above. It was a good year and so looking forward to 2014. The list of all the projects I want to tackle is steadily growing. A big thanks to all of you for coming back here to see what I'm working on.

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Since I switched my Christmas colors to gold and silver this year, I carried that over to the table. Still love the blue, just wanted something different. I wanted a simple table without fuss. We aren't fancy around here.

For the centerpiece, I kept the off white runner and used my silver garland trees from last year along with a new gold one. These mercury glass candle votives from Target added an elegant touch. I didn't want a huge centerpiece. You can't see who you're talking to if a huge piece is in your way. My family likes to talk and it would get moved out of the way anyway.

Monday, December 16, 2013

I decided to change things up this year and go with a different color scheme for the Christmas tree. The last two years I did blue and silver but this year I ditched the blue and grabbed some gold. Since I've kind of been crushing on gold lately, I went with it.

I kept the silver ornaments from years past and added in the gold. All are a mixture of Garden Ridge, Walmart, and Dollar Tree. We used to put a star on top of the tree but I've been liking the bow instead.

I started with silver ribbon, gold and silver balls and added in glittered snowflakes of both colors.

I found these large gold stars at Dollar Tree.

I love the subtleness of the two colors together.

I had to have this silver frame ornament with our recent Christmas picture. This is my son's first Christmas.

Everyone gets a monogram ornament in silver. When all the ornaments were on, it looked like a glitter factory had exploded in our living room. After sweeping a thousand times, I'm still finding it everywhere. I'm sure it'll linger long after Christmas has past.

I love how the tree twinkles at night.

I think this is my favorite color combination yet.

Did you change up your tree colors this year? Are you more traditional colors or more modern and trendy?

Friday, December 13, 2013

Yeah, I know what you're thinking. Chargers from the dollar store can't be that great. But just look at these!

Better than what you thought you could get at the dollar store right? I liked the beading around the edge and they looked fancier than most I've seen.

I grabbed 6 and kept it moving. I didn't intend to buy them here, I was going to try Michael's like I do every year but I was already in the dollar store when I happened upon these. So glad I stopped in.

I was online searching for table ideas and I came across these, Pottery Barn's Gilt Chargers. Do they not look similar to my dollar store ones? Theirs are made of plastic too but at $12.50 a pop, that ain't happening.

I got 6 chargers for $6 at the dollar store and 6 of these will cost you $75 at Pottery Barn. That means I got 6 for half of one of theirs. Score for me!

I plan on using these on my Christmas table that I'm working on. Now I need white plates and napkins, which I can't seem to find any that I like. Go figure.

Friday, December 6, 2013

I have yet to begin my Christmas shopping. Sometimes I lose focus on what I'm really in the store for and end up buying a few things for myself. Hey, sometimes those sales are really good! Here are a few of my picks for those special people on your list.

Thursday, December 5, 2013

It was time to make some changes in the family room. Originally the accent colors in the room were blue and red. The old rug was perfect as it combined those colors plus more so I could always change the accent colors if I felt. That was my intention anyway. I liked the old rug but the colors in it weren't my favorite anymore. I wanted to start removing some of the red in the room. I mentioned this to hubby and he was on board, as long as I could get rid of the old rug. Not a problem!

I begin searching for rugs that I liked. I knew I wanted a graphic print in a neutral color. I wanted to be able to switch up art or pillows without worrying about them clashing with the rug. This trellis one from Target kept popping up. If you remember a few months back I posted this picture on Facebook of the blue one.

I had bought it in 5x7 for the living rug but it was too small so it ended up going back. They didn't carry the blue in 8x10 yet. I checked Target's site every week hoping that they would eventually come to their senses and make this blue larger. There was a tan in 7x10 but I didn't want anything in tan. I wanted a contrast to the tan sectional. Target finally made the blue in the 7x10 online but something else happened. During a weekly Target run, I saw they now made a gray version. I loved it. I was rug searching before I even began to really think about replacing the family room rug. Remember, I was supposed to be looking for a living room rug since that room doesn't have one yet.

I sold the old rug within days and I quickly picked this one up. I couldn't wait to try it out. It's like it was meant to be. The darker color grounds the space and the tan sectional pops right off of it. Just the right color and the pattern isn't too busy. It's a low pile but it's comfortable under foot and doesn't shed. The only thing is since it's darker, I can see the little fuzzies and random threads that get tracked onto it.

Since the main reason for replacing the rug was to remove the red, I thought the old red pillows needed to go too. I kept the chevron pillows and added a couple others. I wanted feather pillows with removable covers. Feather inserts can be pretty pricy but I trick I've learned is to hit up the clearance pillows in TJ Maxx or Marshalls. They always have feather pillows there for cheap. It may look weird to others that you have all these mis-matched pillows in your cart. Take the ugly covers off and put on your new covers. The yellow one is the original cover from TJ Maxx. When I bought it, I was intending to change it but liked the yellow contrast. The darker blue is a cover I got on etsy.

I still have plans to change the ottoman in here. We want a larger leather one with storage like this one but I was thinking a fabric one could be an option. I'd have to find the right pattern to not compete too much with the rug.

Let's look at the old rug and pillows:

And now the new:

I'm so glad we made this unexpected change. The room feels calmer and so much brighter even though the rug is darker and patterned. Now I'm still on the hunt for a living room rug. Hopefully there won't be any speed bumps along the way.

Monday, December 2, 2013

It's that time of year when you want to get everyone on your list something special. But if you're like me, there are some people that are hard to buy for. Jewelry is a no, sweaters are out of the question and perfume is one of those things you don't want someone to choose for you. Or maybe you want to get a few things for yourself. That's where YesComUSA.com comes in.YesComUSA.com is an online superstore that carries numerous items from housewares to restaurant equipment. It's a one stop shop. Here are just a few gift ideas they carry.

I couldn't believe how many items are on this one site. When they asked me to do a review for them, I didn't know what item to choose. We ended up choosing this tv wall mount. We had been wanting to mount the tv in our master bedroom for a while so it seemed like the perfect choice.

I ordered early in the week and it was waiting on my doorstep by the weekend. Talk about fast shipping and it was packaged nicely. Inside were the three main pieces: wall plate and two side bars that attaches to the tv. Also included were the bolts and instructions. The instructions were just pictures with no words. I think they were fairly self explanatory but I would have liked some words to go along with it. Before actually installing the wall mount, we watched several youtube videos to make sure we were doing things right. Don't want to put any holes in the wall that aren't necessary. Sorry, we didn't do a step by step tutorial for you.

Here's the tv mounted on the wall. We still have to do something with the cords but I already love the extra space on top of the dresser.

*I received this product to review for free but the views and opinions expressed are my own.